"There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line."
Oscar Levant

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Turkey Holds Elections

TRIGGER WARNING: Says nice things about Turks.For John, BLUF: Turkey is an important nation, a sort of pivot between Europe and Asia. We should wish them to be democratic. Nothing to see here; just move along.

Turkish voters delivered a rebuke on Sunday to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as his party lost its majority in Parliament in a historic election that dealt a blow to his ambition to rewrite Turkey’s Constitution and increase his power.

The election results represented a significant setback to Mr. Erdogan, an Islamist who has steadily increased his power as president, a partly but not solely ceremonial post. After more than a decade as prime minister, Mr. Erdogan has pushed for more control of the judiciary and cracked down on any form of criticism, including prosecutions of those who insult him on social media, but his efforts appeared to have run aground on Sunday.

The election was also a significant victory to the cadre of Kurds, liberals and secular Turks who found their voice of opposition to Mr. Erdogan during sweeping antigovernment protests two years ago.

Frankly, Mr Erdogan is not deeply committed to Democracy. At one time he commented that Democracy is like a railroad. When you get to your stop you get off.